Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Revised Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Thursday, October 15, 2015 6:30 PM West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CALL TO ORDER Chair Jones called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. at the West Conference Room. ROLL CALL Present 6 - Chair David Jones Vice Chair John Cordes Commissioner Kevin Jackson Commissioner Richard Kolber Commissioner Margaret Okuzumi Commissioner Angela Rausch Absent 1 - Commissioner Kyle Welch Status of an absence: Commissioner Welch (excused) Council Liaison Attendance: Council Liaison Glen Hendricks (absent) PRESENTATION Commissioners asked questions and discussed the Annual Reporting on Collisions Involving Pedestrians and Cyclists report. Lieutenant Yin answered questions pertaining to the report and offered the website California Office of Traffic Safety (www.ots.ca.gov) for comparison data with other cities the size of Sunnyvale. Chair Jones had an example of a collision report that was presented to the Commission last year and shared that it was helpful and provided a lot of data regarding to collisions. The Commission discussed the report and provided other ways data could be made available to better identify what the needs are. Robert Neff, shared his concerns and gave suggestions on how to better collect data and the level of detail that should be included to better understand what happened. Lieutenant Yin addressed his comments and gave various examples of City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised October 15, 2015 Commission what is involved in a major investigation and various studies that take place. Commissioner Cordes asked Lieutenant Yin about the three bicycle fatalities that occured this year. Lieutenant Yin stated that all three bicyclists were at fault and discussed each situation separately. Commissioner Jackson suggested looking to see what other cities are doing to collect data and follow that approach. David O'Brien had questions for Lieutenant Yin. Lieutenant Yin referred Mr. O'Brien to the Cal OTS website; he then stated that the accident on El Camino Real and Halford Avenue happened between 4 and 5 p.m. with heavy traffic. Mr. O'Brien expressed his concerns regarding Traffic Engineering. Lieutenant Yin spoke about a press release regarding an Office of Traffic Safety grant that Public Safety received for 2016-2017 and discussed the objectives. He asked the Commission for ideas and help with two specific areas regarding bike parties and bike safety month in May. Commissioner Okuzumi asked how the surveillance video for the Halford Avenue collision was obtained. Lieutenant Yin stated that the video was obtained from a surrounding business. Commissioner Okuzumi shared her thoughts with the Commission regarding intersections that should have crossing guards but do not and gave examples. Lieutenant Yin gave examples of what type of enfroment he is looking for to apply towards the grant and spoke about crosswalks that are not signalized. The Commissioners further discussed other situations where the grant monies may be applied towards. Lieutenant Yin gave specifics of what could be applied toward the grant. David Simons, VTA BPAC, discussed updates regarding the One Bay Area Grant Program, Transit Ridership Improvement Program and the Mathilda 237/101 project. Commissioner Jackson had a question regarding the Mathilda 237/101 item. Mr. Simmons addressed the question and spoke about his recommendations to Sunnyvale regarding bike lanes. Commissioner Jackson further discussed the item in detail. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Commissioner Jackson spoke on four legislative items signed by the Governor and gave a brief description of each bill. David Simons, VTA BPAC, announced an upcoming Silicon Valley Envision City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised October 15, 2015 Commission meeting and gave meeting details. He then announced that VTA Bicycle and Pedestrian webinars are available to the public at the VTA Headquarters and gave additional information. CONSENT CALENDAR 1. A 15-0959 Draft Minutes of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting of September 17, 2015 The minutes were approved with the following amendments: Buffered Bike Lane Standards Presentation - excerpt from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requiring that if cyclists are going to be using a shoulder there must be at least 3-feet of pavement. Public Announcements - Traffic Study was recommended for Bernardo Avenue. Pages 3-4 Parking Survey Procedures Study Issue - moving forward any parking surveys should take into account the capacity of off-street parking facilities. Yes 5 - Chair Jones Commissioner Jackson Commissioner Kolber Commissioner Okuzumi Commissioner Rausch No 0 Absent 1 - Commissioner Welch Abstain 1 - Vice Chair Cordes PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 2. 15-0783 Discussion and Possible Action Regarding the Conversion of Part-Time Bicycle Lanes on Homestead Road to Full-Time Bicycle Lanes (Study Issue) Chair Jones opened the Public Hearing. Shahid Abbas, Transportation and Traffic Manager, stated that Staff has recommended to continue maintaining the existing Homestead Road part-time bike lanes and parking as-is and to propose to revisit the issue after three years. Commissioner Kolber, referred to the parking summary and asked Staff of the possibility of eliminating parking spaces especially where there was only one City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised October 15, 2015 Commission occupation. Mr. Abbas responded that no parking spaces would be eliminated at this time. He added that Staff believes that when the Apple Campus is opened there will be more traffic and bicycles on the road and will do another study to see what the traffic situation is. Commissioner Jackson noted that he was happy to see that the Streets Space Policy was included in the staff report. However, he stated it was the wrong approach and noted that a lot more information should have been included about the importance of bicycles. He gave various examples of why having full time bike lanes is so important. Commissioner Jackson stated he could not support Staff’s recommendation. Ravindra Rao, spoke against full time bicycle lanes. He also spoke about the importance of safety for both bicyclist and pedestrians, the impact of the Apple Campus, parking issues, and diminishing of property values if parking is taken away. Mohan Rao, spoke against full time bicycle lanes. He also spoke about the safety for bicyclists, impact to visitors if street parking is removed, impact to social life and discussed alternative ways this proposal could have been presented. Mr. Rao then spoke about property values. He suggested that in the future the Commission look at alternate ways to accommodate bicyclists and residents. David O’Brien, did not agree with the staff report, spoke against the Staff recommendation, and urges Council to oppose the recommendation. Jim Stallman, gave various examples of what he has witnessed on Homestead Road, Heron Avenue and the City of Campbell with respect to bicycle lanes and parking. He urged that the issue be taken care of before the Apple Campus is opened. Commissioner Jackson asked for clarification on the parking strip. Mr. Stallman noted that he has seen cars parked in the parking strip in downtown areas. Robert Neff, referred to the on street parking survey and commented on the parking spaces on Quail Avenue and Nightingale Avenue and noted that leaving the parking spaces as is does not limit the bicycle lane at all. He expressed his concerns and suggested extending the bike lanes hours until at least 7:00 PM. David Simons, agreed with extending the hours to 7:00 PM giving examples and expressing his concerns about Homestead Road. City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised October 15, 2015 Commission Commissioner Kolber, for the record, read an email from Mr. Ralph Durahm regarding the Homestead full time bike lanes. Mr. Durham’s main focus in his email was safety and increased ridership. Commissioner Jackson moved to support Alternative 2: Convert the part-time bike lanes to full-time bike lanes by removing on-street parking as-needed within the City of Sunnyvale and pursue approval to remove parking within the City of Cupertino as well. The City should consider this option without delaying the implementation of a safe bike lane as soon as possible. Commissioner Okuzumi seconded the motion. Commissioner Jackson spoke to the motion taking into account all of the information given from the speakers. He noted that he supports the goals of increasing alternative commuting, alternative transportation, goals for more sustainable transportation and goals for healthy transportation. He included a provision to recommend investigating lanes to replace lost street parking and hoped that the BPAC members support alternative number 2. Commissioner Yokuzumi spoke to the motion stating that the corridor should be made safer before the Apple Campus is opened. She noted that the perception should be a safe one so that future employees will feel safe biking to work and it is also important to make it more inviting before the campus opens. Vice Chair Cordes supported that motion for all the reasons stated. Commissioner Rausch did not support the motion. She noted that she would like to extend the hours to 7:00 or possibly 8:00 PM, remove parking from some of the corners and would like to this issue studied again in one year to see what the impact is. Chair Jones supported the motion. He referenced the Land Use and Transportation Element as a guide and gave various examples of why he supported the motion. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes 5 - Chair Jones Vice Chair Cordes Commissioner Jackson Commissioner Kolber Commissioner Okuzumi No 1 - Commissioner Rausch City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised October 15, 2015 Commission Absent 1 - Commissioner Welch STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES Commissioner Jackson shared his thoughts on a potential Study Issue that would look at ways to reduce greenhouse gasses and get people thinking more progressively about multi-modal transportation. He asked the Commission to think about it and stated that in the next couple of months he might be ready to propose it. NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Jackson spoke about the TDM funding recommendation and recommended that the Commission review the TDM requirements. He then confirmed with Staff that the next bike plan update would be in 2017 and discussed the importance of the update and gave examples of what should be included in the updated plan. -Staff Comments Mr. Abbas referred to the item on Homestead Road and noted that the bicycle related collisions on the corridor were all attributed to improper right turning. INFORMATION ONLY REPORTS/ITEMS 15-0960 Annual Reporting on Collisions Involving Pedestrians and Cyclists 15-0961 2015 Work Plan 15-0962 Active Items List ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 6